History

The Founding of NEMA

NEMA, created in the fall of 1926 by the merger of the Electric Power Club and the Associated Manufacturers of Electrical Supplies, provides a forum for the standardization of electrical equipment, enabling consumers to select from a range of safe, effective, and compatible electrical products. The organization has also made numerous contributions to the electrical industry by shaping public policy development and operating as a central confidential agency for gathering, compiling, and analyzing market statistics and economics data.

Upon NEMA’s inception, then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover wrote to NEMA President Gerard Swope,

"I was glad to see the formation of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, as it appears that we will now have an association covering the whole of the many different branches of manufacture of electrical apparatus. I believe such an association under proper guidance can perform a very useful service not only to the industry but to the public…we have need of a great deal of standardizing of supplies and apparatus; we have need of simplification in many directions. We have need of more economic study and industrial statistics in the industry – all of which contribute to the more enlightened conduct of business and ultimately results in greater stability to industry and in favorable returns to the consumer and public. A constructive trade association dealing with these fundamental questions is a necessity of our modern industry."